22 evenings, 66 performances and Resolution! 2015 is still going strong

On 13 February I attended the third and final performance of my Resolution! 2015 review assignments. Molli stayed indoors all day because she is superstitious, so that gave me the opportunity to do the full set of three reviews myself! Five weeks in, 22 nights, 66 performances, and Resolution! is still full of energy and surprises. I was glad I went. The review was originally posted on The Place’s blog, here is the link:

http://www.theplace.org.uk/blog/resolution-review-2015/fri-13-feb-efecto-choppedredroad-dance-theatrehumanah-productions

Efecto Chopped Cul de Sac

Red Road Dance Theatre The Sense of an Ending (excerpt)

Humanah Productions Egress

In Cul de Sac a man and a woman sit next to each other yet seem worlds apart. Each tries to attract the other’s attention using circus skills. She shins up a Chinese pole and flings herself downwards in spectacularly controlled drops, finally gaining his interest. He attempts to impress her with advanced juggling skills but she’s comatose after her efforts. He even drags her round the floor by her head (a slightly alarming stunt) and gradually she responds. They move and intertwine, eventually sitting back on their chairs and, this time, pulsating to the same beat. Not awesome but nice.

Kate Jackson’s solo – an excerpt from The Sense of an Ending – depicts one of three real-life stories of Northern women. This is effectively portrayed at the start as Jackson dances with abandon to Do It Like a Rock Star, only to be regularly knocked off balance, emotionally and physically, by the invisible force of domestic violence. But she keeps getting up, a testament to the victim’s resilience and courage. We next see her in reflective mode intoning positive mantras from therapy. In the second half, her feelings of overwhelming despair need to be more rawly portrayed to do full justice to this gritty extract. When she finally picks up her suitcases to leave home, though, I wanted to cheer. Not gut-wrenching but engaging.

In Egress six bodies lay in a heap on the floor, a silent scrum of arms and legs. Extricating themselves one by one, the dancers start to move around, finding their feet and shaking out their limbs. As two musicians play a syncopated rhythm on cajon and guitar, the cast responds, dancing in a loose line with their backs turned. As they spin round you get the sense that their lives are improving. Whirling and swirling, together and separately,they increase energy and momentum. The music gathers pace and volume, encouraging the six into riotous free motion. Finally they lower three bright globes, bursting them open to release masses of tickertape, then gyrate joyfully through these multi-coloured symbols of life’s possibilities, now within their reach. Not earth-shattering but good fun.

From Apples to Ahimsa

Here is my second review of performances at the Resolution! 2015 new contemporary dance festival at The Place. These were performed on 28 January and I found the double headed coin before Molli so went again! However, the performances were more difficult to appreciate this time,(serves me right for using a double headed coin, says Molli, she would never have done that…) overall the middle one, Sick and Tired, was the best. The review was originally published on The Place’s Resolution! 2015 blog and can be viewed at http://www.theplace.org.uk/blog/resolution-review-2015/wed-28-jan-coegilam-dance-companyodd-company

Coegi Rural Living

LAM Dance Company  Sick and Tired

ODD Company Ahimsa

In Rural Living Grace Nicol lines up a dozen apples on the floor, moving them about in an orderly way while Theo Samsworth’s yoga inspired dancing stirs his memories of a Herefordshire orchard. But his fellow performers deny him the satisfaction of verbally sharing them. The two musicians finally scatter crates of apples over the stage, the fruit now symbolising reminiscences that were not valid because no one else could remember them. Donning garish wigs, the two dancers gyrate through an apple strewn floor. I preferred their impressive hip wiggles to the wigs and overall would have liked more coherence to squeeze out more cider, less vinegar.

In Sick and Tired four performers danced with much fluidity and grace while remaining oblivious to each other. Dark blue costumes and golden lighting emphasise their expressive hand and arm movements which indicate their individual mad obsessions. Pleasing use of space and distance meant they created a coherent tableau even when dancing alone. We are all part of a bigger picture even when we don’t realise it, seemed to be the message.

Towards the end words vied with the music, diluting the effect.’The cure for the world’s ills is change. There is no change without reason. There is no reason without sanity’ intoned the male lead before being stripped to his underpants to a version of Silent Night. How do we know who is sane and who isn’t? It made me think.

Ahimsa, from the Sanskrit meaning ‘not to injure’ is a brave attempt at something different. Three dancers wearing white Sci-fi costumes with helmets portray the effects of trauma, scarcely moving on the stage, standing stuck closely together, while loud violent sound overpowers both them and the audience. At last they start to move a little and eventually – to my relief – even stretch out their limbs. Whether trauma is slight or great, physical, mental or emotional, they conveyed its ability to overwhelm and paralyse. Finally they seemed to recover through the healing power of touch, mutual support, and sheer resilience. A powerful piece but pointless as entertainment.

Claire Cohen